A great place to work on top of a mountain that is just 30 minutes away from the city

We are in the middle of various preparations for the shared office in the forest where we can stay. “Rokkonomad” is on Rokkosan in Kobe and is planned to open at the end of March. I have been spending more time on the mountain. Renovation has started but some work and internet meetings can be done in a corner of the building. Since they are mainly projects I needed to just take care of and get done I could have done them anywhere, but when I started working in the mountains, the time flow was different and I felt like I was working smarter.
Since I was there already, I decided to take this opportunity to investigate the effect of working in the mountains.

NATURE FIX-Recovery in Nature-

I’m reading a book called “The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative” (NHK Publishing), and there are many very interesting contents, so I wrote some of them down.

“We found that taking a leisurely walk in the woods reduced cortisol levels, traditionally called stress hormones, by 16% compared to walking in the city. Not only that, but sympathetic activity was 4%, blood pressure dropped by 1.9% and heart rate dropped by 4%.”

“In modern life, there are a lot of errands and stimulus is constantly coming in from the outside, so the sympathetic nervous system that controls the fight-or-flight response tends to be activated. People are more susceptible to heart disease, metabolic disorders, dementia, and depression. Recent studies have shown that constant stress in urban life causes brain changes, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. It is easy to develop mood disorders.”

“At the office, you hear some kind of sound, such as an email or a ringtone? You’re always forced to make choices, so your brain can’t think deeply about things. But here (Note: While you’re in the wilderness), you don’t have to make a lot of choices, so you can focus on one thing at a time.”

“After walking in nature participants had particularly good results from tests to measure memory and attention, and felt happier.”

As mentioned in this book, in 2008, more than half of the world’s population lived in urban areas. Since then this flow is said to have accelerate further.

The correlation between technological evolution and spending time in nature

The more basic urban life is, and the more advanced and convenient technology is, the need to be in nature will increase proportionally.
The more information devices and the use of the Internet, the brain is increasingly exposed to multitasking, more processing and the number of exchanges, and the more one becomes anxious and stressful. The new coronavirus is also a threat, but it seems that information fatigue is even greater.
In the coming era, self-management in an environment where you can be freed from many distracting things will become indispensable. Anxiety disorders, mood disorders (depression, etc.), or suicide. If you die before you can even finish your work, everything is lost. To prevent this from happening, we need to find a place where we can be “offline” prophylactically. A mountain is perfect.

At-home / Remote Work Mood Changing

On the other hand, it is through the evolution of information devices and the Internet is that the degree of freedom in where one can work, such as remote work and telecommuting, has increased dramatically. Furthermore, in 2020, remote work and telecommuting became widespread in the wake of the new coronavirus While many people have realized the benefits, with the chances of meeting and talking with other people has decreased. There are many people who due to this do not feel well and become unable to change their mood, since they lack in freshness and lose productivity because they are in the same scenery and the same life rhythm because they are always spending time only at home and their fixed surroundings.

The Mountain 30 minutes away from the city

But do you really think you need to go to the top of a mountain to work? You might not think so. However, if there is a mountain that can be reached from home in about 30 minutes from the center of the city, that makes things more reasonable. If you live in the city, errands will be constant, and there will always be a lot of external stimuli that will grab your attention. Without rest, the brain becomes busy just processing stimuli. When you go to the top of the mountain, you can separate yourself from such an overwhelming amount of stimulation. You will be able to focus your attention on your inner self, and you will be able to calm down and focus on one thing.

Separating places of work

Even if you usually work in the city, for a chance of mood and to reduce stress, going twice a month to an office in the mountains that takes just 30 minutes to get to, is a pretty good combination.

The wide open blue sky, being able to look out over the city and the ocean, the rustling of the leaves and the sunlight through the trees, what a great way to have a remote meeting or to concentrate on a project. And when the work is done, it is nice to go for a walk on a mountain road, walking on dirt, not asphalt. Walk for a few hours and then back to do some work again. It is a great time to start such a cycle of working several times a month on the mountain.

Text: Youhei Yasuda